KERNERSVILLE, N.C. -- Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools (WSFCS) plans to spend $16,000 this summer to rid Glenn High School in Kernersville of bats.
WFMY News 2 received a tip about the bat problem Friday morning, when a viewer expressed concern about the health of students and teachers at the school.
WSFCS spokesperson Theo Helm said the school discovered the bats the last week of May, after students and a teacher smelled a foul odor in room 423 -- a room used for three 28-student math classes.
Helm said the school tested the air quality and found no issue, so it called a pest control company. The pest control company then found an undisclosed number of adult and baby bats in the ceiling of the classroom.
Helm said the bats were unable to get from the ceiling to the classroom, and there was no evidence of bat droppings in the classroom. Therefore, he said the school did not find it necessary to notify students' parents. However, he said as a precautionary measure, the school re-located the students and teachers to a different classroom.
Helm said the school plans to spend $16,000 for a professional pest control company to assess the entire school and get rid of any bats on campus. He said the pest control company will not be able to remove the bats from room 423 until mid-July, because the baby bats cannot yet fly. He said North Carolina law prevents the killing of bats. To rid the school of bats, Helm said the pest control company will install netting that will allow the bats to exit the school but not re-enter.
Scott Greene, the director of environmental health (animal control) in Guilford County explained the students did not face a major health concern, if the bats were contained to the ceiling above the classroom.
But, he said, "As far as the bat droppings or bat guano (bird excrement) for cleanup companies that come in and handle a large amount of guano, there is a possibility of histoplasmosis, and so they do have to wear respirators in doing the cleaning."
Greene said the largest concern regarding bats in schools and living quarters is histoplasmosis--a fungal infection from bird or bat droppings--and rabies.
He said animal control is "very concerned if it (a bat) comes into a place where someone is sleeping, because then they don't know if they're exposed possibly, or if someone was intoxicated, or if it was an exceptional needs child who would not be able to express that they had an exposure within the school."
Greene advised people in schools, homes or other living areas in which there is a bat to call animal control.
He said, "Let us come out and try to capture the bat, because then it can be sent off for testing. What we don't want is for someone to open a window or a door and let the bat out, because if there was an exposure, then we don't have the bat at that point to do the test."
WATCH WFMY NEWS 2 AT 5 FRIDAY FOR MORE ON THIS STORY.
